Category Archives: Belgium

“Broad” band Internet access, the Belgian way

Posted by Patrick Vande Walle on 7 January 2008 3 comments

I moved to Belgium some months ago and, as a result, I needed to take a new Internet access subscription. In the past, I complained a lot about the prices and lack of openness of the Luxembourg broadband market. Much to my surprise, the situation is worse in Belgium. Actually, not much has changed in the landscape over the last ten years, when I moved from Belgium to Luxembourg. The incumbent is still everywhere and keeps the market as closed as possible and the regulator seems quite toothless.

While the incumbent telecom operator, Belgacom, trumpets everywhere that it is at the forefront of fast Internet access, here’s what my ADSL modem actually shows:

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Yes, you read well: 928 Kbit/s download speed, instead of the 4Mbit/s the operator offers. This was on a rainy day. On dry days, my speed increases to a whopping 1.5 Mbit, but still only 40% of the promised speed. I am 2.8 kilometers away from the local exchange, according to my ISP. Hence I should get better performance. The fact the speed varies according to weather conditions suggests to me that the cabling in the street ducts is not waterproof.

Actually, my ISP is not Belgacom. However, most ISPs use the Turboline ADSL infrastructure, which belongs to the incumbent, and just buy bit rate access from it. And the copper pairs belong to Belgacom, of course. I have now filed a ticket with my ISP to ask Belgacom to fix their line. Wait and see. I do not have much hope, though, and I think I will have to ultimately move to cable TV Internet instead. Too bad, because my ISP, Dommel, is one of the best in Belgium, offering generous monthly quotas (much to my astonishment, they still exist in Belgium) and no port blocking at all ( but, alas, no support for IPv6).

The other week, I called Belgacom about their Belgacom TV IPTV service. When I pointed out the lack of bandwidth, I was informed they could upgrade me to new VDSL2 service, but only if I subscribed to their IPTV service. In the meantime, Belgacom does all it can to prevent competitors to offer services on its VDSL2 network, although this was mandated by the regulator, IBPT. A clear case of abuse of dominant power.

It is also well known that the incumbent does not invest much in the Southern part of Belgium, preferring instead to focus on areas where it has strong competition, namely Flanders, where the cable TV operator, Telenet, is taking large chunks of the residential market by offering triple play services. Let us hope that the now unified Wallonia cable TV network, Voo, also offering triple play, will bring more competition and hopefully better prices and services.

I got a speeding ticket

Posted by Patrick Vande Walle on 14 December 2007 1 comments

Last Tuesday, a speed camera in a nearby Belgian town saw a car with my car plate driving at 105km/h where speed was limited to 50 Km/h. The problem is: at that time, I was at my office in Luxembourg, 50 kilometers away from the road where the picture was taken.

I have enough witnesses who can testify I was at the office and I trust the Belgian courts to finally come up to the conclusion it was not me, but rather someone who copied my car plate. This being said, this identity theft is the source of a lot of complications and it will cost me some time in the coming weeks in all sorts of paperwork. And I will not get compensated for the loss of time, money, etc.

Car plates, especially the Belgian ones, are easy to copy,  enough to fool a speed camera. They are by no means a reliable way to identify a car, much less a driver, just like e-mail addresses are not a reliable way to identify the real sender. For e-mail, we added things like S/MIME, PGP and DKIM to somehow make the process more trustable.

What could be done for cars ? Could we inbed RFID chips in the car so it can be traced by these cameras ? On the other hand, there have been reports that RFID chips are easy to crack and reprogram.

The Belgian Official Journal may harm your computer

Posted by Patrick Vande Walle on 23 November 2007 None comments

According to Google, the Belgian Official Journal may harm your computer …

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Betty hired as new CGO

Posted by Patrick Vande Walle on 14 September 2007 None comments

dscn3454-small.jpg Arlon (Belgium) – for immediate release

The Next Net is pleased to announce the appointment of Betty, as its new Chief Gardening Officer. The appointment is effective September 14, 2007.

Ms. Betty brings more than 3 months of experience from the agricultural and gardening sectors. As the descendant of Dizzy, she will build on her family assets. She was very early in her carreer trained to the inticraties of cleaning up orchards and meadows from brambles and nettles. Prior to her appointment, she was a trainee at a family farm near Bastogne (Belgium).

“This is a tremendous and important development for us,” said family chair Patrick Vande Walle. “Betty is a talented professional, who is well-equipped to clean up the orchard. She is determined to make our property look good. She will also be in charge of bleating the family out of bed on Sunday morning. We are thrilled to welcome Betty to our staff and look forward to her involvement”. Ms Betty will form a team with Mr Flea, the CEO (Chief Entertainement Officer), a Labrador retriever puppy, pictured right.dscn3386-small.jpg

Ms. Betty, who is a Mini Doe (Capra aegagrus hircus), has a MGA (Masters degree in Garden cleaning Administration) and is an undergraduate in cheese making from Goat University. She bleats in her own language, but understands some French.

Press Contact : Patrick Vande Walle.
Personal interviews with the CGO and CEO can be arranged on request.

The Punt VL fallacy

Posted by Patrick Vande Walle on 7 September 2007 None comments

There is a some parallel that can be drawn between the current dispute on the .EH TLD for Western Sahara and the .VL application. In both cases, the process is being used for political purposes to serve a goal for autonomy or independence. I am not taking sides on the .EH issue, as I do not feel I have enough information to have a meaningful opinion. On .VL however, I think that the 20+ years I spent in Flanders can give me enough background.

In the case of the .VL, there is a public image, posted in English on the ICANN web site, and a quite different one posted in Dutch on the proponents web sites. Some translated extracts, for the benefit of those who do not understand Dutch:

Why a .VL, according their web site:

It is all about being recognized, mostly by the international community. Flanders does have foreign affairs responsibilities, but try to explain simply to Israël that Belgium is made of regions and communities and that you are the Minister of foreign affairs for Flanders and not for Belgium. A specific TLD would enhance the visibility of Flanders in the world, and this can only be positive.

It is clear here that this is about political visibility and not about spreading a culture, like .CAT does. Indeed, this is well in line with the political agenda of the proponents, the Jonge Vlamingen group, which states on their web site (potentially racist humor deleted from the text):

Jonge Vlamingen wishes to promote the separation of Flanders (ed: from Belgium)… We want to build a network where young Flemings who choose for Flemish independence can meet.

As has been explained in a previous post on the subject, other organizations supporting the project have a similar agenda.

My advice to the ICANN community, should this proposal be formalized, is to be aware of the fact they would actually be used to serve a political agenda, rather than a cultural one. The issue of regional autonomy (and now independence) has been on the Belgian political agenda for nearly a century. This is a very sensitive and complicated matter. ICANN would be well inspired not to join the mess.